Should college athletes be paid? They are, after all, making their schools rich.

In a column last Thursday I posed that question and came down strongly on the side of “yes.” My argument was that the National Collegiate Athletic Association practices a vibrant form of capitalism, even in this dull economy, and it should allow some of the rewards to trickle down to the people who do all the work: the athlete-students.

The NCAA basketball tournament starts today, and so I thought it was appropriate to share a few of the opinions I heard from readers — some of them even agreed with me.

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John: I have read almost all of your articles with interest but feel you are off base on paying the college athlete.

First of all, the college athlete is getting the opportunity (key word) — opportunity — to get a $200,000 education that the rest of us have to pay for. They won’t graduate with $80,000 to $100,000 in student loans that will take years to pay off.

Second, they are getting the opportunity to play a game that they love. Third, if they are good enough a select few will go on to play professional sports. What you and colleges can do for the rest of the student athletes is to make sure that they get a quality education.

I played soccer for a D-1 school and also took pre-med. While I didn’t go to med school, I got a quality education that enabled me to earn a good living. I was responsible for that. Let’s make personal responsibility, college responsibility, and NCAA responsibility important again. — Ray George Jr.

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John: Great article on the exploitation of the college athlete-students; I have been saying the current system has been unfair for years. The NCAA is even more corrupt than the government.

— Skip Evans

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John: I wholeheartedly subscribe to your suggestion that athletes whose efforts enhance their schools’ bottom line should be provided with a yearly stipend. But your proposal raises some interesting questions that I have not seen raised before.

Would every athlete who competes at the college level receive a yearly stipend, or just those whose endeavors earn money for their schools? Are we talking about Division 1 athletes only? And in particular basketball and football players, or athletes at all levels and in all sports?

And what about women athletes? Would they receive a stipend as well? — Jason S. Garber, Esq.

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John: They do get paid. It’s called FREE TUITION. Half of these student/athletes have no business being in college. They have an opportunity to get a degree. A very, very small percentage will play at the next level. Some will have opportunities overseas. — Anonymous

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John: You’re 1000000000000000 percent right. It’s about time!

— J.D. Walsh

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John: You wrote: “Whenever I go to a college basketball game here’s what I’m thinking: Why are these kids playing for free?”

If that’s really what you’re thinking when you go to a basketball game, that’s a problem. But the quick answer to your question which makes the rest of the piece irrelevant is that you’re opening up a Pandora’s box in which every college athlete, both male and female, would have a legal claim to get paid.

Because if you think you’re just going to pick and choose which sports and which genders are getting paid and that would hold up in a court of law, or even at a school board meeting, you’re nuts.

— Chris Cody

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John: The question you and others should be asking is, why don’t the NBA and NFL have minor league systems? If they did, kids could play as professionals and give up the joke idea that they are really students who happen to have professional level athletic skills.

Such a significant change would also clean up the nation’s college sports. For example, baseball and ice hockey are college sports, but the pro teams in those sports have minor league systems such that you rarely hear about scandals in those college sports as you do in college basketball and college football. — Bill Troy

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John: I’m usually in agreement with your opinions, but couldn’t disagree more with the payment of athletes.

At the schools you alluded to they’re receiving about $250,000 worth of education. The graduation rate has nothing to do with that fact. You mentioned your children going to some of those schools. You paid for them and for some others, as I’m sure you know.

My daughter is in development at a top school and she has told me the graduation rate (of athletes) is abysmal compared to those who paid the full freight. Enough with this idea that these guys are somehow being taken advantage of.

— Vinny Mooney

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John: You are right they will need the money for tattoo removal so they can get a job. — Jack Lacey

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By the way, I have Kansas and Louisville going to the final in the pool and Kansas winning it.